USL plans to create Central Conference
The question of a third United Soccer League conference is no longer an if.
USL will create a Central Conference for either the 2018 or 2019 season, and the decision will be finalized during the upcoming owners meeting in Chicago, which takes place the week of July 30.
“We’ve been working toward a three-conference structure,” USL commissioner Jake Edwards said. “We are going through that process right now with our competition committee to decide whether or not 2018 is viable to jump into an East-West-Central conference structure or whether it makes sense to do that in 2019.
“We will have a couple of new markets coming into the league in 2019 that will I think make a three-conference model a certainty. We are looking at whether we do it in ‘18, but I know we will definitely have it in ‘19.”
The move has importance to clubs in the central U.S., such as Oklahoma City Energy and the Tulsa Roughnecks, because USL clubs play regular season matches only within its conference. Travel expenses will likely reduce with the Oklahoma clubs no longer having to travel to West Coast clubs such as Vancouver, Reno and Orange County (Calif.).
Saint Louis, which was developing a rivalry with the Energy before moving to the Eastern Conference this season, is a near certainty to move into the Central Conference. USL powers FC Cincinnati and Louisville City are candidates to move into the same conference as the Energy. All three clubs are in the top-third of USL average attendance.
“A Central Conference would bring in a greater diversity of brands from different markets,” Energy co-owner Bob Funk Jr. said. “It makes sense having the conference. It minimizes travel, which allows us to divest more into the clubs and player development spending.”
The three-conference structure became viable with 2018 expansion clubs Las Vegas and Fresno bringing enough geographical balance for a Western Conference to exist without clubs in the Central Time Zone. Nashville also joins the two West Coast expansion clubs entering the USL in 2018, and the league is expected to have 33 clubs next season.
USL has already announced a Birmingham expansion club for the 2019 season. Potential ownership groups in Baltimore and Omaha have also expressed interest in joining the league, though there is a scenario involving one of the Major League Soccer 2 clubs relocating to Omaha in place of an expansion franchise.
The USL playoff format will need to be revised under a three-conference format. The current format has eight clubs from each conference in a single-elimination bracket with the conference winner playing its counterpart in the USL Cup Final.
New playoff formats being considered include wild cards and play-in matches.
“A postseason with three conferences is certainly doable, but we are going to have to go through a few playoff scenarios to make sure we have an even number going into the playoffs,” Edwards said.